We and the Roads

Why would someone go to the same place again and again ? Is it too much love for the place or is it the less options available ? Whatever it is the reason must be good. For me its the place itself. I dont love or hate any place too much, what I do is admire. I admire Sikkim not because this is the closest mountain from my home, and I have been there too many time, but because it is really beautiful. Those winding roads, those green trees and tea garden along the way are too beautiful to put down in words. Sikkim is not only a weekend gateway for me, this place gives me an opportunity to be close to nature. This time I went there with friends who didnt visit Zuluk before. The plan was to start on Thursday night, take a leave on Friday, stay in the hills for 2 days and come back home on Sunday. We took the same route like other trips. The road condition to Siliguri has improved over past few years. I remember the first time I took my EcoSport to Sikkim in 2015 it took us 17 hours t...

Shantiniketan is known to everybody for its contribution on culture, arts and education. The first name that comes to our mind is Rabindranath Tagore whenever we speak about Shantiniketan. Shantiniketan is a bengali word which means "Adobe of Peace". Rabindranath's father built a house there and called it Shantiniketan, later Rabindranath stayed at that place and built several other buildings. Shantiniketan can be reached both by road and train. It is 180 kms from Kolkata and the drive time is around 3 hours. We all know about this. We have been to Shantiniketan several times. But there is a weekly market in Shantiniketan that is becoming overly popular these days and people are visiting Shantiniketan just to visit the market. There is a patch of forest known as Sonajhuri beside Shantiniketan. The river Khowai flows beside the forest. If you visit this forest in winter you will find tiny golden sonajhuri flowers. The word sona means gold in bengali. The weekly market ta...

Serenity is important in life.Work hard and party harder is usually the motto but sometimes you need time for yourself. And its very difficult to find that in this busy lifestyle. To escape from the city we need weekend gateways. A little holiday to a faraway place can give you enough energy to work for another few months. From Kolkata there are several places you can visit but I can assure you that you will be accompanied by several other thousands tourists. So finding the right place is very important. In doing so we found a hamlet called "Tinchuley". Its close to Darjeeling and only few hours from Siliguri. This place is not crowded with tourists yet. Tinchuley derives its name from 3 chullas or ovens.This is because Tinchuley is surrounded by 3 hills which resemble the 3 edges of a clay oven and hence the name.This is where the river Teesta meets the Rangeet and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful!!  There are very few homestays in Tinchuley and we stayed in the ...

Driving a car in Europe is something which everyone wants to do. The public transportation in Europe is very good, you will get flights, trains, buses from any corner in Europe. Public transport are sometimes cheap as well. A high speed bullet train might be costly but an overnight bus journey or an intercity flight is always cheaper if you plan in advance. Still the experience of driving is different altogether.

There are 2 kinds of people, one who loves the sea and the other who loves the mountain. I can definitely say I am the second kind. I have been to the Himalayas numerous times, but everytime I visit the hills it feels like the first time. The mountains have always brought a smile on my face. Its is also very difficult to stay away from the mountains for too long. Once you have felt the essence of the hills its hard to love any other place. That is why Sikkim comes to mind first when I am planning for a roadtrip. You can never get bored of Sikkim. Our last trip to north bengal/dooars was a nightmare. Due to heavy rain and flood we were stuck there for 4 days. While returning to Kolkata my car was damaged severely. Thats another story and I will write about that in an another article, but for now lets talk about West Sikkim. I did plan for West Sikkim during monsoon but we went to Dooars and was badly stuck. West Sikkim is most the dangerous place to visit during monsoon, but at the...

Last year during Easter I was in Scotland. We had a massive road trip and I drove like anything. You can read more of that here- Scotland - Driving thorough the mountains, lakes and sea . As I work for a British client I get holiday this time even if I am working in India. After doing some research Lava and Loleygaon sounded to be a good destination. I havent been to these places before. They are not very far from Siliguri. The hotels were booked  online from the West Bengal Forest Department's website. Lava is a small town in north Bengal's Kalimpong district. Lava is the entry point of Neora Valley national park. Its a small town which has been a prime tourist destination for years.The route to Lava isnt in good condition but very scenic. There are 2 routes to Lava, one via Kalimpong and the other one via Gorubathan. We took the second route becase I didnt drive on this route before. There are lots of tea gardens on the Gorubathan route. We reached Lava before lunch...